Why the past perfect?

Most newspapers do not have "The" as a constituent part of their title. "The Times [ of London]" is the notable exception. Is is technically the New York Times, the Guardian, the Evening News.

"centrist" is being used as a general descriptor of a political stance

1. <<the people of France sided with Sarkozy. That's because the French, who until now had used violent protests to counter government-led labor reforms, felt a heightened sense of crisis regarding the future of their country>>
Past point of view:  ... the people ... sided with Sarkozy ... because the French ... felt a ... sense of crisis ...
Something that happened before the siding with Sarkozy and before the French felt a sense of crisis:  The French had used violent protests. [Do not take 'now' literally; 'until now' means 'until this point in the narrative'.]

2.  << a New York Times-CBS-MTV survey>>  New York Times (together with CBS and MTV) is being used as an adjective to tell us what kind of survey was conducted.  The article has to apply to the noun survey.  It is a survey conducted by The New York Times, CBS, and MTV.  The pattern of two articles in a row is not used in English.  You can't have a The New York Times survey, for example.   The second article is always dropped in these cases.  Even if you see the phrase the New York Times survey, the The in The New York Times is dropped. the goes with survey, not with New York Times, because you can't have the The New York Times survey.

3.  <<we're centrist. ...  <>Why the  word 'centrist' does does the word 'centrist' not have an article? >>It's an adjective.  We're tired.  We're happy.  We're centrist.  (centrist:  having political beliefs that are not particularly rightist or leftist.)

CJ

CalifJim wrote:

1. <<the people of France sided with Sarkozy. That's because the French, who until now had used violent protests to counter government-led labor reforms, felt a heightened sense of crisis regarding the future of their country>> Past point of view:  ... the people ... sided with Sarkozy ... because the French ... felt a ... sense of crisis ... Something that happened before the siding with Sarkozy and before the French felt a sense of crisis:  The French had used violent protests. [Do not take 'now' literally; 'until now' means 'until this point in the narrative'.] 2.  << a New York Times-CBS-MTV survey>>  New York Times (together with CBS and MTV) is being used as an adjective to tell us what kind of survey was conducted.  The article has to apply to the noun survey.  It is a survey conducted by The New York Times, CBS, and MTV.  The pattern of two articles in a row is not used in English.  You can't have a The New York Times survey, for example.   The second article is always dropped in these cases.  Even if you see the phrase the New York Times survey, the The in The New York Times is dropped. the goes with survey, not with New York Times, because you can't have the The New York Times survey. Thank you.With my previous compliment still standing, I have this question. I thought about starting a new thread but since I am not that good at quoting, I have decided to attach it to this one. I am going to use both an uncountable noun and a countable noun in an adjectival way. I hope you would be able to help me. The roach-infested environment (roach being countable) The greed-infested mind (greed being uncountable)    Are these a case in point for your statement (??)that said "The pattern of two articles in a row is not used in English"?    3.  <<we're centrist. ...  <>Why the  word 'centrist' does does the word 'centrist' not have an article? >>It's an adjective.  We're tired.  We're happy.  We're centrist.  (centrist:  having political beliefs that are not particularly rightist or leftist.) CJ